Day 86 - Saturday August 12/17(Written in Battleford, SK on August 31st; Formatted and posted in Prince Albert, SK on Monday September 04/17)

Although August 12 was actually a travel day for us, before we left Dawson we started the day with a visit to the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people of the Han language group. It is housed in an interesting building with an indigenous feel on the main street of Dawson. This First Nation group shared a few similarities in culture with the West Coast Nations we had been visiting but was distinct in many ways. For one thing the Han stayed in their main camp near Dawson in the summer to fish and travelled in the winter to hunt. This seems to be the opposite of the other First Nations we have visited. Certainty the impact of the Gold Rush with its influx of stampeders and displacement of the indigenous people was disastrous for the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in. Fortunately a final treaty settlement was reached in 1998 and the culture and language are being strengthened. We found it refreshing that all children in the local public school regardless of racial heritage are required to learn the Han language starting in Kindergarten.(photos)

The displays included a very moving exhibit about the experiences of local people in the Residential Schools

With some fresh hot lattés to go we headed south around noon, heading toward Whitehorse. (map)

We stopped briefly at the site of some tailing piles and ponds. These ponds and their surrounding piles of stones were created by the huge dredging barges used by serious gold miners after the "easy pickings" of panning had stopped being productive. The tailing piles have now started to support some plant life. We were disturbed by these ugly remnants of mining but heard yesterday from our Tour Guide that locals find the tailings are not toxic in any way, and actually both attract and create new habitat for wildlife. Its always good to hear two sides of a story.(photos)

There has been an application made to make Dawson City and area a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it is not a welcome prospect for some of the more independent-minded prospectors in the area, who see it as just one more layer of interfering governing bodies!(photos)

We stopped for lunch at Grand Lake and continued south following the Yukon River. We cooked our supper at a roadside turnout overlooking the confluence of the Yukon and Stewart Rivers. 

With the days being so long we have found that we have more energy to continue travelling later in the day. So we drove on after supper. Near another scenic overlook we encountered a truly frightening moment. A truck going in the opposite direction stirred up a dust storm that totally blinded us. It was like the worst snow storm we’ve ever encountered. Michael simply had to stop on the road, wait for the dust to clear, and hope no one else was coming up behind us. When we finally could see we were shocked to find a steel barrier only a few feet in front of us. A near miss indeed.

Our afternoon drive has been rich in wild life viewing. We saw a calico-like fox, a white tailed deer and an eagle sitting in a nest.

When we came to Carmacks and the junction of the Campbell Highway we made a spontaneous decisions to skip Whitehorse and continue on our way via this alternative route. It felt good to be casting aside plans once again and taking the road less travelled. We enjoyed some marvelous views of the Big Salmon and Pelly Mountains before we came to a Territorial Campground at Little Salmon Lake. 

Five Finger Rapids on the Yukon - A very difficult spot for paddle-wheelers,
especially when travelling upstream!

The cost for the self-registration site was $12.00. Good value. (A point of interest – Little Salmon Lake is beside the more famous Lake Laberge – made famous with an altered spelling by Robert Service.)  We slept well in a lakeside site "on the marge of Lake Little Salmon". (Sorry that isn’t more poetic!)